Kordia was taken at a check-in at an ICE office in New Jersey and was held despite court ruling thrice for her release
A New Jersey woman who had been arrested at a pro-Palestine protest and booked into a US immigration detention center in Texas last March has been released on bond, after a year in custody.
Leqaa Kordia, 33, originally from the West Bank, was arrested in April 2024 at a protest against Israel’s war on Gaza outside of Columbia University. Nearly a year later, she was taken into custody after reporting for a check-in at a Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office in New Jersey.
“This past year has taken an unimaginable toll on Leqaa and our entire family,” said Hamzah Abushaban, Kordia’s cousin. “We are grateful to our community that stood beside us every step of the way, and for the countless prayers offered during this past Ramadan – those moments of sincerity and hope carried us through some of our darkest days.”
To my Palestinian sister in ICE detention – I will carry you until you are free
Kordia was released on Monday from the Prairieland detention center in Alvarado, Texas, on a $100,000 bond. She had remained detained despite a judge ruling three times that she posed no threat and could be released on bond.
“Since her detention over one year ago, the government has taken every effort to deny her basic rights and freedom, blocking her release not once but twice,” said Travis Fife, staff attorney with the Texas Civil Rights Project and one of Kordia’s attorneys. “Leqaa going home today is the bare minimum. We must continue to assert the fundamental first amendment principle that the government cannot abuse power to punish people for using their voice.”
She and her lawyers had repeatedly raised alarm about filthy and dangerous conditions inside the detention center. In February, she was hospitalized after suffering a seizure, and said in a statement through her attorney she had been shackled at the hands and legs throughout her 72-hour hospital stay.
“ICE detention facilities are built to break people and destroy their health and hope,” she said. “I want everyone to know what happened to me because the same things are happening to other women who are locked up here.”
Kordia was the last person still in immigration detention after the Trump administration’s 2025 crackdown on pro-Palestine protesters on college campuses. She was detained around the same time as fellow protesters Mahmoud Khalil and Mohsen Mahdawi.
Kristi Noem, then the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, accused Kordia of being a terrorist sympathizer and said the government was investigating funds she sent overseas. Her lawyers said Kordia, who had been working as a server, had sent about $1,000 to help her family in Gaza.
According to her lawyers, Kordia had a pending asylum application at the time of her detention and is currently in the process of obtaining permanent residency via her mother, who is a US citizen.
“This is an important step in restoring Leqaa’s rights as she continues to be unlawfully targeted by the government for her advocacy for Palestinian rights,” said Sarah Sherman-Stokes, supervising attorney with the Boston University School of Law’s immigrants’ rights clinic.
Kordia’s case galvanized support from lawmakers including Zohran Mamdani, the New York mayor, who personally appealed to Donald Trump for Kordia’s release.
On the anniversary of her detention on 3 March – after a judge ordered for the first time that Kordia be released on bond – she said she hoped to be reunited with her family soon. “All I want is for the government to finally release me now so I can go home to my family. Until then, I’ll continue speaking up for the basic rights and freedom of all people, from Texas to Palestine,” she said.
